RBC p2p will be at RBC Desifest tomorrow, blogging live, right next to the RBC BlueCarpet. Come down and see us and take in some of the music! The event takes place Saturday, May 31st 2008, at Toronto's Dundas Square. We'll be talking with some of the hottest artists on the scene and getting an inside look at what goes on! We'll be posting live videos of the event right here!

We'll be talking with Apache Indian, RBC Desifest's headlining act! If you're not familiar with Apache Indian, you may remember a few of his hit songs, like "Boomshackalak"! Our video interview can be seen here along with footage from the concert.

In the meantime, while you're waiting for some amazing Toronto event coverage, be sure to check out our adventures at Vancouver's RBC Desifest!

12:30pm

It’s Nathan, Kate, Zach and Michel and we’re at DESIFEST in Toronto; everything is great, absolutely great. The weather’s great, the food smells delicious (worth coming just for the food) and all this cultural stuff is off the hook. There’s so much going on it’s almost overwhelming. Come by RBC Desifest at Yonge and Dundas Square and pay us a little visit, meet all of the performers (if you can nab them) and hang out with all of the sweet people that are taking everything in.

Come on down to Dundas Square to see it for yourself! If you can’t make it down here in person, take it in on the RBCp2p.com website and be sure to drop by http://www.desifest.ca/toronto/live to catch a live feed from the event!

5pm

We're having a great time here, despite some technical issues that have occured throughout the day! We've got everything back up and running, and we're up and producing videos!

For our first video, Kate thought that we would get a look at who was at Desifest, and we met up with some people from all over the world! Have a look! There's more to come!!

5:45pm

Kate also had an opportunity to interview some of the dancers from the Sri Sanskriti Dance Academy. Check it out!

6:30pm

Kate and Zachary are revving up for the coming day's events - before the rain hit! Plenty of people here, right from the start!

7pm


This is Sole Power from Toronto; they're some pretty animated performers, and they take it beyond just the stage (we just saw all four of them shuffle by under one little umbrella). So You Think You Can Dance better watch out for Sole Power...

7:25pm

Nathan had a chance to speak with Jay DeaLa... Here's what he had to say:

8:02pm

Zach just interviewed Avalla Connection, another one of the performers here at RBC Desifest! The rain wasn't keeping the people away and now that it has stopped, massive crowds are forming to take in the sights and sounds!

8:55pm

Kate had a chance to interview Meditating Minds Entertainment on the RBC Blue Carpet! We've got amazing access here at RBC Desifest, and we're talking to the hottest artists, established and up-and-coming on the desi scene... Stay tuned for more!

9:09 PM

We're bushed, but we're trucking on. We clearly need to eat some spicy curry or down some mango lassies if we're going to last for another couple of hours. All the entertainment's been great and we've had front row seats all day. Apache Indian is playing right now, so we're going to run and see if we can catch the rest of his act. If you're going to be in downtown Toronto tonight, come to Dundas square - there's a ton of people here! Also, the after party starts the moment Desifest ends, so if you still have some energy to burn, check it out for sure.

9:45pm

Little Empire just performed here at RBC Desifest, and it was quite the show! They then made their way to the RBC Blue Carpet where they were interviewed by Nathan! Here's the footage from the interview:

10:45pm

We've had an amazing time here at RBC Desifest 2008! We really felt the culture and buzz here, so much so that Kate, dressed in her South Asian garb had a henna design imprinted on both her arms by Christine Thomas. Check out the video of this amazing art form:

We're working on getting the Apache Indian footage together, and it will be up on the site soon!! We interviewed Apache Indian at our Toronto blog headquarters yesterday, and saw him perform to an insanely rambunctious crowd here at RBC Desifest!!

We're looking forward to being here next year! Signing off for the evening, and heading to the RBC Desifest afterparty...

Your Bloggers, on the scene:

Nathan, Zach, Kate and Michel

Click here to see our interview with Apache Indian!!

Here's a video that I made about spare change, and how it can either ruin or enhance your life.

What Steps Have YOU Taken?

Such A Boring Name For Such An Important Thing

Let’s start calling them “****-hits-the” Funds instead. That’s what they are, right? You may recall that about a month ago I wrote about Emergency Funds. Well, here’s a follow-up to that entry. The topic is still pretty hot in the blogosphere, and that may have to do with the fact that the world is facing an increasing number of disasters and catastrophes, thus validating the need for such funds. Or maybe it’s just one of those topics that is SO important that there always remains something to be said. Either way, here I go again.

You Better Ask Somebody

Just today I went to my local RBC branch to make an appointment to analyze my accounts, and see what I can do to make the most of my situation. The goal is to slowly set some money aside for myself. The main thing I am looking to do is to separate my current savings account from money I actually want to save. I know for a lot of students a savings account doesn’t really hold savings, so much as a pool of money from which all expenses come.

What Can 4% Do?

My other employer sets aside my 4% vacation pay (Emergency Funds are nowhere near as fun as a vacation, though) as opposed to including it on my paycheque. While there’s not THAT much money in my Vacation Pay, in the roughly 10 months that I have worked at that job I nonetheless have access to money that was put aside automatically for me. The point is that a small percentage of monthly earnings can accumulate quickly, and I didn’t miss that 4%.

Where Will That Extra Money Come From?

For those among you that feel you don’t really have any extra money to put towards such an Emergency Fund, SavvySugar has some advice on how to find some surplus coin, over at her blog. While a couple of the points may be straightforward, the idea is that we all have things that we do that are wasteful and by cutting back on such things, extra money then becomes available.

Should Debt Come Before An Emergency Fund?

Over at I’ve Paid Twice For This Already, there is an important question asked that I think sums this debate up perfectly. The whole blog entry is well worth reading, but consider what the author has to say:

Be honest with yourself - what would be the psychological ramifications for you of having to increase your debtload if (when) an emergency happened?

Make Sure You Have Easy Access

FrugalDad (one of the hottest names in money-related blogging right now, and sort of my blogger idol) makes a great point about making sure that at least some of your *gulp* Emergency Funds can be accessed quickly and easily. After all, if there is an EMERGENCY, there’s no time to waste with transfers and 2-3 days for processing times.

Well, that’s my kick at the Emergency Funds can. Hopefully at least a few of you have decided to consider doing the emergency funds thing. It’s like sooooo chic right now. Do it. You know you wanna.

I’m not from Canada originally and so every year I make the journey back to Europe to visit my parents. My father lives in Moscow, Russia and that’s where I am right now. While I’m here I decided to make a video about what life is like to be a young adult in Russia and how 18-30 year olds get by financially in Russia’s capital. I’ve learned a lot this past week that I found fascinating so I wanted to write up some of the things I found and my video will be posted on here next Tuesday so be sure to check it out!

This year I just got back to Canada and I have also been slowly transitioning into independence from my parents (not entirely by choice!). All of this has changed the way that I think in relation to money and for me to return back to Europe and to see how people my age in Russia view and use money was fascinating to say the least.

The financial situation in Russia right now is hard to describe in one blog and so I decided to mention just a few things that might be of interest to you.

Last week I went to go pick something up from some friends of my dads who work for a large American oil company. They have a very nice four bedroom home in a secured community on the outskirts of Moscow. The house is attached and has four bedrooms and I would estimate was about 2,500 sq ft. While I was talking with them I found out that they had to move to a smaller home down the street because the rent of their house was being raised. When they told me that their rent was being raised to $23,000 USD a month I nearly jumped! That’s just one example of the astronomical housing prices that Moscow has. It is a true sign that prices are out of control when an oil company can’t afford to pay its expatriate employees' rent! Don’t be mistaken that this is a purely foreigners property phenomenon; the situation for the average Russian seems impossible with rising food and rental prices in the worlds third most expensive city.

This situation makes renting in a central location unfathomable with one bedrooms renting as high as 10,000 USD a month downtown which makes buying property more than impossible! The cause of this insanity is the demand to live in Moscow with its higher wages and better education it is worth the struggle for some Russians. The massive disparity between rich and poor in Moscow doesn't help the situation either. Moscow is said to have the second highest number of billionaires as residents in a single city after New York and with a population of 12 million it doesn't take much to imagine the poverty that must exist in the city. With high fashion stores such as Tiffany’s, Bentley and Gucci lining the streets downtown and the outskirts of the city a jungle of derelict concrete high rises, it only takes a brief look to see the extremes in Moscow.

In order to live in Moscow you either have to be born there, be a foreigner with a visa, or “register” as a resident in the city. Registering is something that all Russians and foreigners have to do and it’s a way that the government controls the populations in the desirable cities. If someone from Chelyabinsk wishes to move to Moscow for work they must pay and register to do so and even then may be denied. It’s a sort of immigration control within a countries own borders. Imagine if you had to register every time you made a trip to Ottawa from Toronto or if you moved from Vancouver to Montreal. This registration process forces a lot of young people to make the move illegally so that they can make a better living. Life without registration isn't easy however and makes getting a bank account impossible and getting other benefits such as healthcare and education complicated.

I knew about most of these issues while I was living here and attending high school but it wasn't till I recently came back here from Canada that I thought about how different life and money must be for young people here. When I heard that only about 30% of Russians had bank accounts I decided that I wanted to make a short movie about “despicable metal” (what Russians call money) and young adults. So check out my video next Tuesday and the similarities and differences between Katya, Oleysa, Andrei and Lena’s experiences with money and yours.

You’ve done all the work to land a summer job, (searching for the perfect company, cold-calling HR, working on your resume, going to interviews) you’ve finally landed your dream summer job and the hard work is over, right? Not really. The work is actually just starting, but this is the fun part: you’re actually getting paid and you’ll learn tons of new skills, get an insight into a fascinating industry and see if you’ll sink or swim in the workplace. The best part is, you don’t have to do it alone.

Now that you’ve had a few weeks to settle into your new job, it’s a great time to seek out mentors. The workplace is a great place to find these people. They can be co-workers or superiors and typically have more experience than you. Integral to your personal development, mentors should be willing to share their experiences with you and take a genuine interest in your growth and success.

Feeling a little awkward breaking the ice? Here are a couple tips I’ve come across:

• Check to see if your company has a mentoring program
• Talk to people who were hired a few years before you
• Seek out retired executives who might volunteer as mentors
• See if your company sponsors any conferences for opportunities to network
• Working for a small company? Pick up a book! Biographies can also lead you to mentor figures

I’ve been lucky enough to have had several mentors who were kind (and patient) enough to spend some time talking to me about their experiences and sharing their advice in sticky situations. But establishing the first point of contact is not enough! It’s important to maintain relationships with your mentors, they will become a part of your professional network and sounding board. Try to keep in touch with your mentors at least a couple times per year. They’ll be interested to hear about your latest endeavours and you should be interested in theirs!

When seeking out a mentor, my best experiences have been with people who like to talk. Finding people that you respect and think highly of is great, but if they aren’t talkers, you might have a harder time benefiting from their expertise. Also, see if you can talk to your mentors outside of the office, ask them out to coffee or lunch. This might allow them to speak more openly about their experiences, especially their frustrations.

There is some degree of altruism behind mentoring. While the mentor may have a genuine interest in you, they don’t usually ‘get’ anything out of meeting with you and sharing their stories. They usually are genuinely interested in your personal and professional development, but they also care about the success of their company and perceive your growth as fostering that.

Be sure to pass on the torch!

Lastly, once you’ve been through the initiation into a new company, be sure to connect with the mentoring program at your company (especially if you’re a returning co-op or summer intern). You might not have an abundance of experience in the field, but you can help a new hire get oriented and settled into the new work environment by acting as a mentor to incoming students and new hires.

Just heard about this on Twitter a couple of minutes ago and thought I better get it out there. There's a new Startup on the web (surprise, surprise) by the name of Startupindex.ca. Essentially, it's a catalogue of mainly tech startups, and potential investors, in Canada.

It doesn't look like the entire site is solely geared towards tech startups, but it's certainly the predominant industry on the site. At any rate (And Dan, I recommend you take a look at this for your business) it's worth checking out and putting a business on there.
Free publicity and potentially money in the bank (if you're looking for an investor). Expect to see my business on there in the not too distant future! It looks like we've finally nailed down an ownership system - it's a lot tougher with three people than it would have been with two. All that bureaucracy is a real pain in the butt.

We're getting it all out of the way so that we can focus on ideas.

I'm an ideas kind of guy.

I'm sure we'll encounter many more hurdles along the way, so it's good to settle into this sort of thing.

Anyways, check it out - www.startupindex.ca.

I suppose it helps to build a solid network.

I've just finished reading “Career Warfare” by David D’Allesandro. A partial waste of time, but beneficial in some respects. This book only gets a half recommendation in the to-read category, and here’s why:

Only half the book is worth reading.

The only benefit I found in reading the book was in its ability to raise awareness of “my brand”, as it were. The big take home, after two-hundred and nine pages is that the little things are more important than the big things. I think the analogy went something like, “don’t wait until the game to impress the coach, start during practice!” (Kate’s going to love that one)

Fair enough. So, if I want to climb the corporate ladder to success, I need a good brand, a positive perception, to propel me. But I want to start on the top rung of that ladder in my own business. Where does a personal brand fit into that? It’s even more crucial, because I am “the company”. Bad me = bad company. I would venture to say that personal branding is what entrepreneurship is all about.

My thoughts as of late; there are three pillars of entrepreneurial networking – quality, numbers and impressions. Knowing someone well beyond their first name (quality) is key; knowing a lot of people (numbers) and making an effort to maintain this is even more key; if they know you, and see your brand in a good light (impressions), then you’re set and you can really draw on these people for information, help and collaboration.

What are a few “important” ones? (Might I add, “important” is relative): Don’t lie, don’t gossip, be aware of other’s perceptions of you ( and most importantly – be respectful (whether it’s to a server or a boss).

This entry is dedicated to someone very dear to my heart, who recently moved to follow her life path. We have the type of relationship that allowed us to share many things, and that is the message I want to communicate in this blog entry. I hope that you have someone in your life with whom you can undertake the challenge that I am about to put forth.

Dare to share!!

What does this mean? Well, I’ll tell you. My friend and I would often get together and talk over food and drinks. Being the money-conscious people that we are, and thanks in large part to her suggestions, we would often share these. Surprisingly, even pizza slices (they can get pretty huge in Halifax, mind you) were adequate when shared. In addition to feeling like we had eaten enough, there were other benefits. Thanks, Crystal!

Save Your Money

You’ll be shocked at how much money you can save by sharing meals, rather than each ordering full-sized portions. It’s a great feeling knowing that you can dine out without worrying about how rent is going to get paid.

Reduce Waste

Not only did we save money by choosing to share, but we always felt satisfied afterwards.

And we could take comfort in knowing that no food was wasted. A lot of plates return to the kitchen, only to be emptied of leftover food. Sharing helps cut down on this waste.

Reduce Your Waist

There is no denying that I love food. I don’t like leaving any food on my plate, and that can be a problem when it leads to eating more than is necessary. It’s a fact that our portions are generally oversized in North America, so try sharing with someone who is willing.

Enjoy Dessert

You’ll have enough room left (without stressing over money, since you saved on the main course) for dessert. You may even shed a couple of pounds in the process if you consume enough of the main course to feel full rather than consuming a full portion just because it’s in front of you.

In honour of my friend I will, from this point forward (assuming I can find someone else who wants to share with me), call this act of splitting costs and portions “crystallizing”. Maybe. At the very least I will think of her when I do it in the future. I hope you find your own precious Crystal and dare to share. I’m glad I did.

I've now graduated, and made a short video about how my life after graduation has been. Here it is!

Not so long ago I had a little addiction to playing blackjack. So, to continue for my month of blogs about different "investments" I thought I would discuss the issue of gambling and finance.

Blackjack was the game for me. Ever since I saw it first played in a casino in Prague I loved it and wanted to get good at it. I had a friend that became my mentor of sorts that taught me the basics of how to play the game. These rules included not hitting if the dealer has a six or a low number (depending on what you have) and learning to stick to basic blackjack strategy. When I first started to play the game I played it for fun and didn't really care if I won or lost and just hit or stayed whenever I felt like it. Eventually, the game became more serious for me and I developed my own strategies and stuck to them.

I would go to the casino alone and scope out all the tables for about thirty minutes before I played. Once I found one I liked I would take out some cash and promise not to use more than that amount that night. Then I would go and sit at a low minimum table and bet the minimum. If I won I would bet the minimum again and if I lost then I would bet double my last bet. I stuck to these rules to ensure that if I ever lost I would be able to win my money back right away. The funniest thing about gambling is how smart it can make you feel when your winning and how dumb it can make you feel if your loosing.

To make a long story short I was winning at the game for a while as long as I stuck to my rules. The problem is of course that nobody ever does. I began betting irrationally and was so focused on winning back what I had lost. Don't get me wrong I was never in serious trouble and this was a short minor stage for me but it gave me an idea of how much of a bad investment gambling is.

Last weekend I went and saw 21 in which a young college student starts playing blackjack to pay for his $300,000 school costs. In short the payoff that he's getting doesn't last and I like to think that the moral of the story is that if he had spent his time and money elsewhere he would have achieved more then his wasted efforts. This got me thinking about students everywhere and that I should address the horrible investment that gambling is.

Blackjack is popular no doubt and as the most popular card game in the world it draws in people from all ages. For students, gambling and blackjack is becoming increasingly popular and this is exacerbated by the extreme media exposure that the game receives online and on TV. I just wanted students everywhere to know that gambling in any form is a bad investment. I see blogs like Blackjackblog.net and how it offers tips on how to win by strategy and it worries me. If you are going to play blackjack please do learn some simple rules to make the game more fun but as an investment don't waste your time.

There are much better ways however, for students to spend their extra money and their time than games. From my own personal experience I will let you know that if you take your extra money that you have and invest it in stocks, RRSPs or real estate you will get a much better high and return than from gambling.

Trust me, I understand the need to take risks and the excitement that comes from playing with your money but if you take the time to do some research and make a good investment the risks will be exciting, safer and much more rewarding. The high that I received from buying a place and all the work that went into doing that was much more exciting than any night at the casino.

So next time your bored and looking to have some fun with your money think about the other choices you have when it comes to investing your cash.

Okay, back to the drawing board - not for me, but for some. It's officially my summer, and dang is it nice... the weather is nice, the grass is green, I'm not living in res any more, I have my bike out. Life is good.

In fact I'm sitting on the porch in downtown Toronto and I can hear the ice cream truck.

Anyways, I'm still working on getting together some little details for my endeavor, but I've been thinking that still, so many people don't really know what kind of business they'd really like to start up.

I was at the CYBF Awards gala the other night and there was an entrepreneur there who made these cool little organizational boxes. She probably is and was a really organized person and boom, she's a certified successful business women. It gets me thinking about my little idiosyncrasies and what I've got that could be legitimately made into a business. There's nothing I'm really anal about, so it's tough to bring up ideas.

Remember, when it comes to a business, it's 1% inspiration (the idea) and 99% perspiration (the work). I'm going to lay a bet that it's actually 20% inspiration and 80% perspiration just because the 80-20 rule applies to a lot of garbage out there.

I listened to a lecture about a storming by a guy named Barry Nalebuff. He wrote this book, "Why Not?". I suppose it's his answer to the question "Why?". He has methods to coming up with ideas. Processes, if you will. The one I like best - What would Donald Trump do? Admittedly, a big Donald fan over here (though apparently a controversial statement).

It goes like this - I have problems. My friends have problems . Everyone has problems . I look at all these problems in isolation and I have to ask myself, "What would Donald Trump do?"; if you had all of the money in the world, what would you do is probably the more realistic question when I think about it. Suddenly, a whole world of opportunities exist. Ideas galore, really.

I think that's the easiest way. Look at the problem, find the answer. Of course, when I think of what Donald Trump would do, I can't help but think that I could never afford his solutions, so I have to put them on a plane that's accessible to every Tom, Dick & Sally out there. That's probably the most difficult part of the Donald Trump approach. Bringing it down a few notches so that it can be a legit product - or project.

Barry talks about another way too - start with the solution, an invention for example, and then see how you can apply it. I have this SICK idea for training guys to put down the toilet seat. That's my invention. The problem is self-evident... so I guess that was a bad example (call me if you're interested in having the toilet seat down).

Here's a short webcomic that I've started to work on called Behulsive Compaviour.

Let me know what you think!

If you’re anything like me you enjoy watching movies on the big screen. Some movies just have to be seen in the theatre in order to fully immerse ourselves in the experience. It’s no secret that movie theatre profits have dropped since the emergence of the anything-you-wanna-watch-you-can-pretty-much-find-online age. In many cases, the quality of these movies is pretty terrible, but I think viewers have become increasingly willing to sacrifice that quality if it means saving money. After all, it’s pretty expensive going to the movies, right?

Tickets

I have personally seen the price of movie tickets increase from $7 and some change to the current $10 price for adult tickets, in the span of a few years. A lot of people (myself included sometimes) complain about the cost of movie tickets, but honestly it’s not that much more expensive than renting movies from the larger movie chains. I would much rather see certain movies on the big screen, even if (for some reason) there are still times when the picture has lines, pops, scratches and other visual annoyances. In the age of HD everything, I would like to see a much clearer picture, but compared to my 17” laptop screen it’s a pretty fair trade-off for the chance to enjoy a larger-than-life picture.

There are ways to spend less money on tickets, such as attending matinee shows, special screenings and trying to hunt down coupons. I’ll admit that these do not always amount to huge savings, but $10 is a decent price to pay for a good show. The problem is, of course, that not all movies are created equal. I recently read an interesting article online that gave an explanation for the pricing structures that movie theatres employ, and it involves everyone’s favourite complaint – the cost of concessions.

Food

Think about it. What is popcorn? It’s mostly made of air. And the fountain drinks are sugar, water and some carbonation. The average cost of getting a reasonably-sized combo of these two is probably anywhere between $8-$10. Add that to the cost of the movie ticket (transportation, babysitter, etc) and you’ve got a pretty expensive night out, especially if the movie consists of all the funny (scary, thrilling) parts from the trailer plus 1 hour and 40 minutes of filler. But the article that I mentioned above gives the following as the reasoning for the higher-than-seems-humanly-reasonable price of concessions, based on research from Stanford and the University of California:

The findings empirically answer the age-old question of whether it’s better to charge more for a primary product (in this case, the movie ticket) or a secondary product (the popcorn). Putting the premium on the "frill" items, it turns out, indeed opens up the possibility for price-sensitive people to see films.

Makes sense, doesn’t it? Either they charge more money for the food (that you don’t HAVE to buy, although it sure is tasty) or more for the ticket. If the ticket was even more expensive, then less people would attend movies altogether, which would then increase costs even more. By charging more for the food, it ensures that those who wish to watch movies without buying food can do so without spending $15-$20 on a ticket. And it’s not like owning and operating a movie theatre is cheap. Have you seen the size of these things? Now comes my favourite thing to complain about, the arcade/entertainment area and the scandal that is TOKENS.

Entertainment Zone

Remember the good old days when you’d hop on your bike with a pocket full of quarters and ride on over to Simon’s General Store? You’d run in, excited to be young and alive, go into the basement and you and your friends would spend hours pumping quarters in Golden Axe, Outrun, Street Fighter and of course Double Dragon. Ah, nostalgia.

“Hey boss, I have a great idea to make more money on arcade games.”

(boss urges industrious employee to continue)

“Well, you know how currently games take quarters and people can get 4 quarters for a dollar? What if we did away with that system and replaced with one that required the customer to use tokens instead.

(boss asks what the difference is between getting 4 quarters for a dollar and getting 4 tokens for a dollar)

“No, no. You don’t understand. They would only get THREE tokens for a dollar!!”

And thus began the beginning of one of history’s greatest (or, worst) scams. Seriously, this drives me insane.

First of all, nothing in these arcades is really worth playing except one thing: air hockey. And in most cases, it takes tokens. Alright, I’ll play your little game I guess. Except that, yup, it takes 4 tokens. But 1 dollar equals 3 tokens. So you have to put in 2 dollars, which gives 6 tokens. Six minus four leaves two tokens. And what takes 2 tokens?! NOTHING takes 2 tokens! Except maybe those impossible-to-win-no-matter-what-you-do games that tease you with stuffed animals that can NOT be grabbed onto with that joystick-controlled claw. So you bring them home, in hopes that the next time you go back you will bring them with you. But you don’t. So they win. You paid for something that you never even got to use.

So, as you can see it’s not all THAT bad. You just have to know how to control the spending and decide what’s more valuable to you. Do you want food and games? Then you’re going to have to cough up some dough (these two words don’t even come close to rhyming!). For now, I’m off…to the movies, I think. Have a marvelous week.

In my last blog entry about Corporate Social Responsibility, I talked about what the commitment to philanthropy looks like from a corporate perspective... Numbers and business model, and the supporting reasons for large corporations making such donations.

When I met with the great team over at the RBC Corporate Citizenship, I also asked them specifically about the RBC BlueWater Project, the initiative to donate a total of 50 million dollars over 10 years to water related causes, specifically to watershed protection and access to safe drinking water.

Why Water?

My initial assumption had been that Water is blue... RBC's corporate colour is blue (and gold)... It was a perfect fit... But the well went so much deeper! (Apparently bad water jokes are now the norm over at the Corporate Citizenship office.) We talked for quite some time about why water was selected and it seems that it was a pretty long decision process... Here's what I noted down:

• By virtue of being large, corporations are expected to be all things to all people. While it's often difficult to do this, they do need to take a greater responsibility to try and meet those needs, to be a good neighbour and be involved in the community they live in.
• RBC needed to find something that was relevant to most people, where they felt that support was needed, and the money that was being set aside would be put to good use on real and impactful social initiatives
• It needed to be a cause that was important globally, but also locally relevant, as RBC is both global and local in their approach. (We have some form of representation in 41 countries)
• People needed to understand the cause (I'm not sure that people would "get" a donation to Bacon Addicts Anonymous(I need to break the habit))

So, water made sense... Even if people aren't aware of water issues (Which many Canadians aren't), if you tell someone that the next time they turn their tap on, nothing is going to come out, people seem to understand.

I talked about water shortages in the southern parts of the US a few months back. I thought that that was where the problem ended for the western world... Now, I've been reading about farmers in western Canada who are going through a critical water shortage. The problem just keeps hitting closer to home. For weeks now, I've been seeing articles in the national newspapers about water shortages here, titles like "The Next Walkerton?" there... Overall, our water situation seems pretty sketch.

I'm hoping that in the coming weeks, I'll have some further opportunities to take a look at what the impact watersheds have on the situation (and really, what a watershed is!!), and how our drinking water is being affected by various things...

Meanwhile, what's your take on water?
Do you tap it or bottle it?
Do you foresee a future where you turn your tap on and nothing comes out?
Or even worse, how would you deal if you were under a constant boil-water advisory?

VIPBDS-The Finale!

To start off my “investment answers” month I decided to write about the final chapter of my Vancouver Investment Buying Disorder Syndrome saga. As you may know from my other VIPBDS blogs I have been caught up in the chaotic experience of finding a place to purchase as an investment for my parents.

After finding an agent and figuring out what type of property I wanted I finally found a beautiful apartment that I wanted to buy. We put an offer in on the place and negotiated the price so that we could get the Canadian Property Transfer Tax back. There was a tax of approx. $8000 when I bought my property. If you are a first time buyer however, you can get the Property Transfer Tax back. Also, if you are buying new you may get a GST rebate.

Rule #5

Save money where you can! There are lots of ways to save money on your investment if you buy sensibly. For example, if your parents buy a place in your name they can save on the tax because it will be your first property. One way that I saved money is by giving the previous tenants an extra few days to move out after I paid for the place.

Rule #6

Do your research! Even though you may love a place you need to make sure that it will be a good investment. In order to find out if it will be a good investment you have to take into account things like:

• area
• price per square foot
• comparisons between similar properties

Now your agent will do most of this research but it won’t hurt for you to do it too. Prices in Vancouver are insane right now but like in any real estate investment what matters much more than the price is what others are paying for similar units. If people are buying similar places for that price then you should be in good shape.

Investing in real estate is a tricky matter but it can really work out if you work hard at doing it right, Some people argue that there are better investments than property and they might be right but when I think about how much I have learned and gotten out of my investment it was well worth it to go through all of the pains of VIPBDS. So don’t be afraid to go out there and take on the real estate investment market as soon as you can because before you know it you may be chilling in your new place living it up like a rock star.

You've probably heard about it, but I'll just say it again for old time's sake – RBC is giving out a free Asus Eee PC if you open a new account (subject to some restrictions, of course). Anyways, I got lucky and had a chance to get my hands on one of the Eee PCs to try it out, to see what people are getting themselves into. The computer is pretty popular in the states and it's accessibility and affordability has moved it to the 9th most popular notebook ahead of the MacBook Pro after only a short time on the market.

There is no way this computer would replace your desktop, or even your main laptop, but I think it's something that's worth having around. Girls can throw it in their purses and guys can put it in their really big pockets. Or their murses.

After taking it to a coffee shop for the weekend (free wireless!), to a meeting and just having it kick around the house, I'd even go as far to say that I'd seriously consider buying one (especially since my computer is huge and heavy…). So, for anyone who has a wireless connection in their place of work or play (like at their university, downtown or even the house), this computer's for you. If you're planning to use it for gaming – good luck.

The computer isn't fast, by any means, and with 512MB of ram, you may have to wait from time to time for Firefox to open. Strangely enough though, the OpenOffice.org word editor opens quicker on the Asus than it does on my PC… The computer is sluggish, but for web surfing, it's worth it's weight in gold.

In terms of the Eee PC's size – I don't think you can really grasp how small the computer actually is. It's small. I'm talking "you could fit it into a really big pocket kind of small". Typically though, with such size comes much fragility. This baby's got it covered though.

It's made with a durable, hard plastic, so it's rock solid. That means it's not going to scratch, scuff or break – well, it could I suppose, but not easily or within the every day wear & tear. Finally, a low maintenance laptop. That's probably one of the biggest issues I've ever had with any of my past and current laptops – they're just a general pain to take care of, and you always have to put it in the laptop pocket. It's also worth noting how light the laptop is. It's – well, let's just put it this way: at only a few oz. you can't even tell that it's in your backpack. So for any student commuters that need room in their backpack and can't afford even a tiny bit of weight because of all the textbooks you're lugging around, then this computer is ideal.

There are some inherent issues with it's incredible tininess though – it's kind of a pain in the butt to type on, which may run amuck your plans to bring it to class for note taking. It's really tough to get the hang of it, but after a while it's not as bad. If you have really big hands, it may be kind of hard for you to adjust. But, with time, you get the hang of it; the computer comes with some software to practice your keyboarding skills, so there's ample opportunity for you to master the Asus. Also, the screen is tiny – so don't plan on watching any movies with your friends on this thing. It's a personal computer in every right. It's good enough for Youtube (barely) but some websites have are really hard to view given the screen size (namely Google Calendar).

The computer runs on the Linux operating system, which is pretty different than PC or Mac. It's straightforward though, and after literally 10 minutes of browsing around, I got the hang of it enough to consider myself fluent. The computer is completely internet oriented, and you'll quickly notice that all of the software on the computer is freeware – OpenOffice.org, Firefox, Linux, Google Docs and a great messenger. Asus may really be onto something here – to see a fully functioning computer with an operating system that costs a fraction of Windows, or even Mac for that matter. The computer is just as functionally capable as any other operating system out there, for sure.

The small, light computer means a small hard drive and limited ram. You can probably upgrade both, but why would you want to? Give me an Asus and give it to me now, please!!

Special thanks to Matt for tips on this one. The city has some great resources to meet and network with entrepreneurs. I love it! Ryerson (famous for startup jobloft.com a la Dragon's Den ) is hosting a competition for startups. You could win 25 000$.

Nice.

There's a small caveat - a Ryerson student has to own 51% of the business; Hey, I'd be willing to go in 49%. I'm going to go check it out - best of luck to Matt; it'd be great to see him get short listed, then I'd encourage everyone to come and support him in the finals.

Also worth noting is Mesh08 coming up May 20, 21, 22. If you're a university student, you get the 469$ tickets for 30$. Unfortunately, they're sold out... I'm trying to justify almost a month's rent and three days of work for the conference, but it looks worth it.

Also, I'm getting in contact with someone from TBDC (Toronto Business Development Centre) on King St. The building looks pretty cool - I'm planning on having a chat with her and I let you know what I dig up.

Does anyone know if you can volunteer at MaRS in Toronto?

Hi folks! It’s been a while since I’ve sat down to write something for you guys, but I’ve been hard at work on the next video. Your feedback on the last video was fantastic and I can’t wait for you to see the next one.

Alas, this week, my significant other has left for a week-long vacation, which has left me to my own devices for now, which I’m not so sure is that much of a good thing! We’re trying to find ways to keep in touch without inflating our phone bills. Needless to say, I thought it would be easier than it actually is, but thanks to technology, there are ways to work around keeping in touch on the cheap.

I tried going through my phone provider to see if they had any long-distance plans for Bermuda (the place I wanted to call) and found out that they had nothing and that it would cost me $3.50 a minute to talk with someone from there! Thankfully we both have access to computers that run Skype, which allows us to chat via webcam. The problem with that is, we have to arrange times when we’re both going to be online, which is simple enough; we just text message each other when we are both able to be near a computer. The issue with that, as you cell phone owners must know, is that my phone provider charges an ‘international’ text message price. It’s a little higher than the regular rate and isn’t covered by my free text message package.

What I found interesting in all of this is that Skype allows you, for small, non-contractual monthly fee, to call someone’s phone from your computer. I think with that feature, the person receiving the call might still get charged a roaming fee for receiving a call in a foreign country, but for you it’s around $9.95 a month to call internationally. Way better than $3.50 a minute.

I really have to hand it to Skype because they don’t stop there. You can actually get phones that are ‘Skype phones’ and some phones can download the Skype software and you can talk for free as long as the other phone has Skype enabled. It’s worth checking out the site to find out what the best plan or route to take is for you. If you want to keep in contact with your jet setting friends, this might be a good option to explore.

Many phones are coming equipped with Wi-Fi or other options like Skype that allow you to make affordable calls to people, so it’s really worth exploring. Big phone companies can become complacent and charge exorbitant rates. ‘Customer loyalty’ shouldn’t be exploited and tolerating inflexible plan choices and ever-increasing rates is becoming a thing of the past thanks to new technology. It’s not perfect yet, but if we’re going to avoid getting dinged where it hurts, we have to explore new options.

Let me know if you guys have any stories or discoveries in this ever-increasing realm of alternative telecommunications.

I've officially started up my business plan. Exams – finished! I have a few weeks before I start working full-time, so I need to take this opportunity to really flesh my ideas out. I really need to grab these couple of weeks by the horns though; not a moment to spare!

There's so much to think about and it seems like there's a thousand different opinions on what needs to go into a business plan. It's pretty daunting and ambiguous – I feel like it's the old case of the chicken and the egg. I have no idea what comes first, and what comes before what!

I have all of these ideas and no real way of organizing them. But if I keep waiting to have all my ducks lined up (which is impossible) before I actually start putting this all down on paper, then it may never happen. There's always going to be some unknowns!

There are a ton of resources out there, like I said, and some even offer examples of business plans. RBC walks you through starting up a plan, as well as Entrepreneur.com and CYBF.ca.

No two business plans are the same (and if they are, there's an issue); so do some looking around and see what topics fit into your plan and what don't at all. I suppose for me, I'm looking for some affirmation that what I'm putting on paper is "right". There isn't really a right answer, but I think working on a business plan with a partner (another great benefit to doing this with someone else) will help me to set realistic objectives, visions and analyses.

Numbers Don’t Lie, But Do They Fib?

The other day my friend Andrew told me about this great deal he had found in a flyer from a local big box technology store. Being the tech geek that he is, and knowing I could appreciate the item he was coveting, he showed me a bluetooth mouse and exclaimed “Dude, it’s only $19!”. Usually, I would agree that $19 is a phenomenal price for such a device, but being the skeptical frugalitarian that I am I examined the details of the offer:

regular price: $89
instant savings: - $30
mail-in rebate (MIR): - $40

Total cost: $19

MIR-er, MIR-er On The Wall…

Personally, I detest mail-in rebates (and even their first cousins, the online “easy” rebates) and refuse to buy products that have them. As consumers we often look at the bottom line without considering where the savings come from. In Andrew’s case, with the mouse, the price is not $19 plus tax. The price he will pay is ($89 - $30, or $19 + $40) plus tax and then the mail-in rebate comes off. So in Nova Scotia that would be $66.67 minus the $40 MIR, which equals $26.67. For any of you mathematical naysayers out there, I realize that this amounts to a mere $5.20 more than if the item had been $19 plus tax. Regardless, that’s almost a 25% increase over how we see calculate things when simply using the $19 as the price point.

In many cases, the difficulties that often arise with these non-instant rebates are not worth the potential savings (not everyone who applies for these follows all the appropriate steps required to actually RECEIVE the rebate). If you’ve ever tried qualifying for one of these you may recall the agility and flexibility required to jump through the many hoops. While I will readily admit that $40 is a substantial amount to save and that many customers will have no issues in redeeming them, I am still personally hesitant. It should be obvious to most of you that companies count on a large percentage of customers NOT redeeming their rebates. In fact, only about 50% of customers actually do.

…Who’s The Fairest Of Them All?

The rebates that are especially deceiving are the ones that involve mailing in for $7 (or some other minimal amount that customers likely won’t bother with). And yet, how many people would consider the $5.20 mentioned above to not be a big deal in our miscalculations of savings, and yet somehow see the $7 as something they insist they’ll mail in for? In fact, I am willing to bet that some of you recently bought something that had a mail-in rebate valued at $10 or less, and that you never bothered to fill it out. It’s no use looking for it, it’s too late now. If you had, though, and spent an hour clipping, filling it out, mailing it, checking on the status and then cashing the cheque you essentially would have worked for less than minimum wage. Some retailers, like Best Buy, have realized how annoying these MIR’s are and have decided to opt out.

I used to work in a call centre and dealt customers mistakenly calling into our department looking for their rebate status. I was in sales and service, but would routinely try my best to get the information from the rebate people. I can assure you that my contacting them helped tremendously, so if you ever have problems try contacting the place from which you bought the item to see if they can help at all. So many of these customers were extremely upset with the numerous complications that would arise in the rebate process. That experience made me vow to stay away from these tempting - but often elusive - “discounts” and save myself the unnecessary stress. That, to me, was worth more than saving the couple of dollars offered by the rebate.

Dude, The Math

It remains to be seen whether Andrew will decide to purchase the mouse and how that rebate process will go down. If you gain nothing else from this post, just remember to consider whether a mail-in rebate is really worth the potential problems. Should you decide to take advantage of these rebates, here are some tips to help you out. Don’t let the ads suck you in with their slick numbers when the reality is that you’ll likely end up paying full price, due either to your own unwillingness/forgetfulness to send in the required documentation or the mountain of obstacles in recovering what is rightfully owed to you. And no, that asterisk in the title doesn’t lead anywhere – much like many of the ones I see in ads

After I handed in that final exam, the real work began.

The two and a half months leading up to my last-ever exam had been consumed with schoolwork. It meant I didn’t have too much time to spend looking for a job. I had checked the usual sites, but I didn’t turn up any good leads.

Admittedly, I didn’t try too hard, either.

Finding a job, really, is no easy task. You have to prepare the resume, prepare the cover letter and, most importantly, you have to find the job out there for you.

Every once and a while I would see a post that I was slightly qualified for, but I’ve been afraid to jump into something that I just don’t truly care for. A friend of mine told me about his friend who turned down her dream job because of the location and extensive time away from home. His friend doesn’t want to come out of the job feeling unhappy and, ultimately, unrewarded. I don’t want that, either.

But this is where my story takes a slight turn. A few weeks ago, a fellow Blogger wrote about the importance of networking in modern day business. While I don’t entirely love the phrase ‘networking’—I think it’s impersonal and has unflattering connotations—I don’t undervalue the importance of forming and maintaining relationships with those you meet. And in this case, I was lucky that someone thought of me when an opportunity arose.

That someone called me up to see whether I’d be interested in applying for a communications job. In the journalism world, communications is considered crossing into the dark side. For me, though, the dark side has been looking pretty bright for a while now.

So I applied.

Now, I don’t think I’m great at job interviews. I get nervous and my thoughts begin to layer on top of each other. As those thoughts become words leaving my mouth, I can sound like I never really learned the English language. I found this great website with videos that takes you through the “perfect interview”. Yes, they can be a little cheesy, but there are some helpful hints along the way.

One of my friends is having some difficulty getting a job. While he manages to make some cash throughout the school year doing short-time gigs, he wants something more permanent for the summer. He doesn’t have anything solid lined up yet.

I asked him what he thought the most difficult thing was in finding a job:

“I don’t have the time to apply for 50, 000 jobs,” he answered, “and I don’t have the patience to look through all the listings. I skim. Who knows if I’m missing something perfect?”

I suggested that motivation was a barrier to his hunt and I set out on a hunt of my own. How could he get motivated?

Heather Mundell at careerhubblog.com suggests taking things that motivate you in life and applying them to your search:

Today write a list of everything you can think of that motivates you as you work on your job search. Star the items that pull you toward something positive and consider letting go of the least inspiring obligatory motivations.

While you're at it, write down the names of the people in your life who motivate you to stick with something, try harder, risk more, be great. Remember to call them!

When I look back, motivation—or lack thereof—was a major flaw in my “job search”. I’ll have to apply this post’s suggestion on motivation to my new job, too. That’s right, I was offered the job and I took it. I’m looking forward to the challenges that come my way and all the experiences that I’ll have.

And the best part is there won’t be any exams.

We're reporting live from RBC Desifest, a festival of South Asian Culture and Music, where some of the country's leading South Asian artists and dancers are performing!

But a few minutes ago, I was on the RBC Blue Carpet to report on the goings on! It's slightly rainy here in Vancouver on this cool Saturday morning, but the weather will innevitably get better as the day goes on!

From Vancouver, this is Henry and Michel at RBC Desifest!

12:10pm PST: The fun has started here at RBC Desifest and we've managed to capture the first set of performers! The rain has stopped and the weather seems to be improving.

We've had a chance to witness the awesomeness that is Bhangra as we captured the UBC Girlz Bhangra Team! Check out this video of the action to date below, or come and check it out in person, on Water St. in Vancouver, between Cambie and Cordova Sts!

1:30pm PST:

I've just managed to get an interview with the UBC Girlz Bhangra Team! Those are the benefits of having backstage access!! We're blogging from the Green Room where the artists are getting ready to go on stage! Follow along and take advantage of our access

2:45pm PST:

I've interviewed a dance performance troupe named Entouraas... Here's the interview, and a slight bit of their dance:

4:30pm PST:

Here's Michel on the RBC Blue Carpet, where people are getting their pictures taken by the Paparazzi. RBC has this great system set up where you get your picture taken at the event, and you can then retrieve your picture later on at www.rbcbluecarpet.com with your unique pin! They'll be doing this at RBC Desifest Toronto on May 31st, at Dundas Square. Come out and see us if you're in the neighbourhood!!

5:40pm PST:

We've seen a lot of awesome dancing so far here at RBC Desifest... Here's a short recap of some of the dancing... Some people in the crowd, some on stage!

6:30pm PST

I've been busy getting interviews with the performers and the attendees here at RBC Desifest. Backstage access does have it's advantages! I had a chance to speak to Dhol Nation Academy (DNA), a school that teaches the art of the Dhol drum, a traditional North Indian Drum. Here's the interview:

Here are a few interviews with some of the attendees:

7:30pm PST:

I had the good fortune of interviewing EnKarma, another one of the performers at RBC Desifest! Here's the interview and a bit of their music!

It's now 8pm and the event has wrapped up here in Vancouver. If you were at the event and received a card with a pin for your picture, you can retrieve your picture at www.rbcbluecarpet.com

We'll be at the RBC Desifest Toronto Event on May 31rst, blogging live from the RBC Blue Carpet! Be sure to stop by and see us, where you could be featured on the site!!

I realize that sometimes as student we can get pretty wrapped up in our lives. With exams, deadlines, interviews and summer jobs we can get a little self-centered sometimes, I know I can.

This week’s blog topic takes a bit more of a serious tone. But first, I think a shout out needs to be made to a friend of mine who knowingly let me steal his copy of the Economist this week in order to save my readers from my take on another earth-shattering Onion article.

I’m a student at the University Ottawa in the International Development and Globalization program, or as I joking call it, “Hippie School”. The program focuses on developing countries and different models of social and economic development. Needless to say, today’s topic is of particular interest to me as the concept and frustration of international development is something that I continue to be fascinated and discouraged by.

The global food shortage.

Maybe you’ve heard about it on the news or read about it in the papers: we’re in the midst of a food crisis. Over the last year, the price of wheat and rice have risen 77% and 16%, respectively. The consequences of rising grain prices is felt particularly across nations we tend to call "less developed". In many developing countries, food riots are breaking out as a response to the rise in food prices. In Haiti, protesters shouting “We’re hungry!” forced the Prime Minister to resign. Twenty-four people were killed during food riots in Cameroon. The Philippines have made hoarding rice punishable by life imprisonment. The food shortage is a grim topic that is causing political instability and threatens the future of developing nations.

It is important to note here that the food shortage is not the result of failed crops. Although some regions like Bangladesh, have dealt with severe environmental conditions that have negatively impacted this year’s crop production, the Economist claims the shortage exists because of a change in demand, not supply. While the growing demand is mainly attributable to the West’s skyrocketing consumption of biofuels, what I found to be of particular interest, is that the increased demand has been largely influenced by the rising standard of living in China and India, initiating a greater demand for luxury goods, such as meat and grains.

Worsening the situation, are export quotas by grain producers, panic-buying by grain importers and governments who are softening the blow of high grain prices (which would entice farmers to grow more) through subsidies.

The Economist claims that the era of cheap food is over. What do you think? No doubt, farmers will eventually respond to the incentive of higher prices, but what are the implications for the developing world?

Food for thought

It's true! You've heard it right! RBC is giving out a 7", 2gb Asus Eee PC when you open an RBC Signature No Limit Banking account or an RBC VIP Banking account and meet the qualifying criteria.

Here's the qualification criteria checklist for your perusal.

The account fees are totally reasonable for the great features of these accounts (stuff like unlimited debit transactions, free overdraft protection, etc), and you're getting a Free Eee PC!

The promo runs from May 1st to September 12th. Someone on RedFlagDeals.ca asked how long you had to wait to get it. The only wait time is the 8-10 weeks it takes for the delivery of the super mini laptop...

You can find out more information on the promo website...

Check out the FAQ to find out about some of the more common questions…

The checklist for obtaining the Eee PC is also pretty handy!

One of our bloggers will have an Eee PC in hand by the weekend and will be reviewing it for everybody early next week. Lets see how this wee Eee pc simplifies things ! Check back then to see what we think about it!